If you are ever feeling great about your vocabulary in a language, you just need to try translating a song (assuming you are bilingual), and that experience will humble you. I used to be a big fan of the Tamizh author Baalakumaaran (the reason for "used to" is a post in itself) and have thought of translating his novels into English, so that more people could read him. But I have never done it and may never do it after this. But then maybe translating a novel is easier than a song...maybe.
One of the recent songs that I very much like is "suttum vizhi chudarae" from the movie Ghajini. I can listen to it five or six times in a row, much to the chagrin of my co-listeners. One day, I happened to be listening to this song with some of my friends who don't know Tamizh and so I translated some of the sentences for them. As a credit to this song, even my not-Tamizh-knowing friends liked the song (or so they said!) and figured out that it was romantic (maybe because it was a duet?!) . This, combined with wanting to translate for some time, prompted me to translate this song from Tamizh to English. But now I wonder what got into me to want to do that.
First of all, translating a song is difficult. You realize that it is hard to find words in another language even if you understand what it means in the original language. I like languages, especially Tamizh and English (the ones I know) and Spanish and Italian (which I don't know but like to hear them anyway), but now I have better appreciation for the nuances in different languages. These two languages are so different that it is a wonder that I can speak both :-)
Without much more rambling, here is the translated song in English.
Male:
Light from bright eyes
Light from bright eyes
My world revolves around you.
Your photo in my shirt pocket
Is touching me and
My heart is on fire.
I fall in your sight and
Fly in space.
I dream while I am awake
Because of you
I dream while I am awake.
I saw softness on your chest
Hardness in your sight
Searched for the in between
But didn't find it.
Female:
I blabbered in my sleep
Stood in the drizzle
And thought of you
When I sneezed.
Male:
Are there black and white flowers?
I saw them in your eyes. Your eyes
are flowers that eat the bees. Your eyes
are flowers that eat the bees.
Female: (Light from bright eyes)
A certain wood pecker
Snatched my heart and
I gave my body and soul.
Male:
With neither fire nor wick
That bodies would burn
I realized only today.
Female:
Is rain more beautiful? Or sunshine?
When you flirt, rain is beautiful.
When you are angry, sunshine is beautiful.
When you are angry, sunshine is beautiful.
(Light from burning eyes)
Notes on the translation:
The translation does not do much justice to the beauty of this song and so one is better off listening to the song either at Raaga (original version) or at Swarasthaanam (a beautiful rendition by Meera and Jo). "Light from bright eyes" does not come close to expressing all that is in Bharathiyaar's phrase "suttum vizhi chudarae" (I could not translate "suttum vizhi chudarae" and had to ask a friend for help and I don't mean to discredit the friend's translation but just want to emphasize the difference in the beauties between languages). I still don't know how to translate "mellinam" and "vallinam" into english and have went with substitutes like "softness" and "hardness".
The biggest challenge in translating is to choose between the literal translation and taking some liberty so as to convey the message. I think the above translation has both, as and when convenient for me! Regardless of the fact that the English version is not as mellifluous as the Tamizh version, it was a new and enjoyable experience.
Thanks to Selvaraj for helping me with the translation. If you have a better translation for any of the words/phrases in the song, let me know through the comments.
And folks, try to dream while you are awake as well (not the same as day dreaming!).
Showing posts with label Music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Music. Show all posts
Sunday, July 16, 2006
Friday, January 27, 2006
Amado Mio
The first time I heard this song (which was by sheer accident), I was enchanted. Some songs make me very happy whenever I listen to them (regardless of where I am or what my mood is) and I don’t really know why. There are quite a few tamil songs that do this to me (theeraadha vilayaattu pillai is one) and that is a topic of a separate post. There are some hindi songs (Kabhie Kabhie is one) that do this as well. The other English song that do this is Uptown Girl by Billy Joel – I just start tapping my legs when I hear it – anywhere anytime.
So, I ended up listening to this song three times in a row. I learnt that the song is performed by a group called Pink Martini , whom I had never heard of. The group is not a mainstream one but is described (by themselves) as “Somewhere between a 1930s Cuban dance orchestra, a classical chamber music ensemble, a Brazilian marching street band and Japanese film noir”. The more I found out about the group, my interest and admiration just grew. It looks like this group got started by a Harvard-alum with some of his friends and is based in Portland, Oregon – how cool is that?
I am not big on analyzing music, as I think that some things should be left unexplained to retain their mystery. If we examine everything, things either lose their charm or we cease to wonder. But I cannot get this song out of my system. Some days I play the CD just to listen to this one song. What is it about this song that is so enthralling? The lyrics are good but not extraordinary. I don’t know Western classical music and so I can’t talk about notes here. It is the combination of words, music and voice in this song that transports me to somewhere else.
After all this, you can imagine my glee when I found out that Pink Martini is performing in a nearby city, also by accident. I got the best tickets and made a grand date out of it. It was a surreal experience for me to listen to them in person. Of course, they opened the concert with Amado Mio, and that gave me goose bumps and I was at the edge of my seat. Everything that happened after that was anti-climactic. But this group is good – if you like variety in your music. They can sing in different languages – French, Spanish and even Serbian. Even though I don’t speak any of these languages (and maybe because of that), they all sounded authentic to me.
After the concert, the band was meeting with the audience and signing the CDs. I went and got some cash and stood in line for about an hour to get it autographed. The whole band was there and talking to audience (yes, that includes me!) and they were all so nice. It was an experience that I will remember forever.
If all this has made you want to listen to this song, check out the Pink Martini radio on their webpage (under Sympathique album). Better yet, find out when they are playing somewhere near and go see them in person. I tried to attach an audio link to an mp3 file I have on my computer but could not figure out how to do it. If anybody can help, it would be appreciated.
Do you have songs like this? Care to share them?
Some truly random thoughts to justify the title (I am going to start doing this once in a while as a friend pointed out that the blogs don’t seem random enough. See, I do pay attention to suggestions once in a while!).
Kutti Update: Kutti (our pet dog) has not been letting me sleep in peace the last couple of nights. One of our neighbor’s dogs is barking a lot at night (don’t know where the neighbors are) and that seems to agitate Kutti. So she starts barking in the house and yours truly has to take her out. It is very touching to see Kutti run towards that neighbor’s fence and bark with that other dog as a show of support. But it is disturbing (literally) to wake up a lot in the middle of the night. Because of this, I have been snoozing my alarm and getting up later than I planned to.
Love Monkey: I read somewhere that Love Monkey is like Sex and the City (SATC) with guys. Sex and the City is a show I love to watch (again and again) and so I decided to watch Love Monkey this week. Sorry to say that it didn’t even come close to SATC but was interesting in its own way. I like Tom Cavanagh from the show Ed, and thought the subject matter on recording artists and scouts was new.
James Frey Drama: I find the whole James Frey episode to be silly. If you haven’t heard about this, James Frey is the author of a memoir called A Million Little Pieces, which is about an addict going to rehab and all that follows. Apparently, this book was first sought to be published as fiction but the publishers did not want it. Then the book was described as a memoir and published, but we don’t know what changes were made to the book itself. I don’t understand how a book can be changed from fiction to memoir just like that. But it is an example of how a book is judged only by its cover. And why would anyone say that they went to jail, when they really didn't?! This underscores the reason why I don’t like to read non-fiction (memoirs included) as there will always be an embellishment when one tries to put something in writing. So, for now, I am sticking with fiction and expect everything written to be subjective and biased and tweaked (we are human, after all, aren’t we?).
So, I ended up listening to this song three times in a row. I learnt that the song is performed by a group called Pink Martini , whom I had never heard of. The group is not a mainstream one but is described (by themselves) as “Somewhere between a 1930s Cuban dance orchestra, a classical chamber music ensemble, a Brazilian marching street band and Japanese film noir”. The more I found out about the group, my interest and admiration just grew. It looks like this group got started by a Harvard-alum with some of his friends and is based in Portland, Oregon – how cool is that?
I am not big on analyzing music, as I think that some things should be left unexplained to retain their mystery. If we examine everything, things either lose their charm or we cease to wonder. But I cannot get this song out of my system. Some days I play the CD just to listen to this one song. What is it about this song that is so enthralling? The lyrics are good but not extraordinary. I don’t know Western classical music and so I can’t talk about notes here. It is the combination of words, music and voice in this song that transports me to somewhere else.
After all this, you can imagine my glee when I found out that Pink Martini is performing in a nearby city, also by accident. I got the best tickets and made a grand date out of it. It was a surreal experience for me to listen to them in person. Of course, they opened the concert with Amado Mio, and that gave me goose bumps and I was at the edge of my seat. Everything that happened after that was anti-climactic. But this group is good – if you like variety in your music. They can sing in different languages – French, Spanish and even Serbian. Even though I don’t speak any of these languages (and maybe because of that), they all sounded authentic to me.
After the concert, the band was meeting with the audience and signing the CDs. I went and got some cash and stood in line for about an hour to get it autographed. The whole band was there and talking to audience (yes, that includes me!) and they were all so nice. It was an experience that I will remember forever.
If all this has made you want to listen to this song, check out the Pink Martini radio on their webpage (under Sympathique album). Better yet, find out when they are playing somewhere near and go see them in person. I tried to attach an audio link to an mp3 file I have on my computer but could not figure out how to do it. If anybody can help, it would be appreciated.
Do you have songs like this? Care to share them?
Some truly random thoughts to justify the title (I am going to start doing this once in a while as a friend pointed out that the blogs don’t seem random enough. See, I do pay attention to suggestions once in a while!).
Kutti Update: Kutti (our pet dog) has not been letting me sleep in peace the last couple of nights. One of our neighbor’s dogs is barking a lot at night (don’t know where the neighbors are) and that seems to agitate Kutti. So she starts barking in the house and yours truly has to take her out. It is very touching to see Kutti run towards that neighbor’s fence and bark with that other dog as a show of support. But it is disturbing (literally) to wake up a lot in the middle of the night. Because of this, I have been snoozing my alarm and getting up later than I planned to.
Love Monkey: I read somewhere that Love Monkey is like Sex and the City (SATC) with guys. Sex and the City is a show I love to watch (again and again) and so I decided to watch Love Monkey this week. Sorry to say that it didn’t even come close to SATC but was interesting in its own way. I like Tom Cavanagh from the show Ed, and thought the subject matter on recording artists and scouts was new.
James Frey Drama: I find the whole James Frey episode to be silly. If you haven’t heard about this, James Frey is the author of a memoir called A Million Little Pieces, which is about an addict going to rehab and all that follows. Apparently, this book was first sought to be published as fiction but the publishers did not want it. Then the book was described as a memoir and published, but we don’t know what changes were made to the book itself. I don’t understand how a book can be changed from fiction to memoir just like that. But it is an example of how a book is judged only by its cover. And why would anyone say that they went to jail, when they really didn't?! This underscores the reason why I don’t like to read non-fiction (memoirs included) as there will always be an embellishment when one tries to put something in writing. So, for now, I am sticking with fiction and expect everything written to be subjective and biased and tweaked (we are human, after all, aren’t we?).
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
